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Once again,
it has been an eternally long summer – but our favorite sport is back, along
with the best league in the whole world. Don’t believe me? Just ask the few
thousand who packed arenas in Prague and Stockholm to catch four NHL teams get a
head start to the new season!
One of
the best quotes I heard all summer was from Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe, at
the NHL Awards. Upon accepting the league’s first ever Lifetime Achievement
Award (one guess who gets the next one), he stated the league is in great hands,
not good hands, great hands – all because of the exciting young talent making
its way on to the ice! As a hockey fan, observer, commentator and blogger, I
couldn’t agree more.
THE KIDS ARE HOT TONIGHT
If you
haven’t been able to notice more younger, faster players making their way into
hockey’s biggest showcase, you haven’t been paying attention to any of the
roster moves. In a league formerly dominated by strength and veteran
leadership, the torch has been passed on to the young, speedy and talented. One
need look no further than the recent list of former stars were unable to secure
a job with an NHL franchise for this winter. Jeff O’Neill, Petr Nedved, Kyle
McLaren, Claude Lemieux (I’m not joking!), the list goes on and on. Even still,
are the veterans who are as of this writing undecided as to whether or not
they’ll even play – of course I’m talking about Mats Sundin and Brendan
Shanahan. In yet another shocker – even the league’s oldest player, Chris
Chelios, won’t be opening the season as he broke his shin while, what else? –
blocking a shot. And today as these players are household names, before long
we’ll all be talking about the likes of Steven Stamkos, Drew Doughty, Patrik
Berglund, Derek Brassard, Jesse Winchester, Kyle Turris, Blake Wheeler, Nikolai
Kulemin, Luke Schenn, Alex Pietrangelo, and on and on.
Not to
worry,
though, there is plenty of talent, speed, grit and excitement that will ensue.
For probably the first time in a long time, aside from Detroit, can you honestly
pick who will dominate the standings? Well, since my job is to have all the
answers, here’s my take on the season to be: expect the unexpected.
All the
so-called pundits are picking Detroit to repeat, and for good reason – they not
only kept the core team intact, they got even more weapons in their arsenal
(more to come). In fact, when Las Vegas releases their odds to win the Stanley
Cup, don’t be surprised if the Red Wings end up 3-1 or even 2-1 odds on
favorites. However, and a big however – there is a reason we play an 82 game
schedule – and there will be no days off for the boys of winter, not to mention
29 other teams who will attempt to have a say in Detroit’s quest to repeat as
champions. But rather than analyze ad-nauseum every single team, let’s check
out a list of the top five contenders, pretenders, and, well, you know. At the
mid-season point we’ll revisit my list to see just how right (or wrong) I am.
THE CONTENDERS
1.
Detroit Red
Wings
They are
the defending champions, and they got even more powerful in the off season,
adding sniper Marian Hossa to the mix. Some are saying this could be a curse
rather than a blessing, given he’s never won the big game or scored the big goal
– but even those who are skeptics have to admit – Hossa came a long way last
season, even though his team still lost when it counted most. The only member
of last year’s Wings squad not returning wasn’t really a factor in the playoffs
anyway – Dominik Hasek has finally decided to call it a career. Still stellar
on defense with Nicklas Lidstrom, still lethal on offense with Johan Franzen,
Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg, who clearly took their game to an entirely
new level last season. Any team who is able to beat the Red Wings in the
playoffs should look forward to a very long post season run – they’ll have to
earn it, that’s for sure.
2.
San Jose
Sharks
If any
team can say they did the most improving over the summer, it is arguably the
Sharks. While they lost trade deadline acquisition Brian Campbell to free
agency, they went out and got a former Stanley Cup winner in Dan Boyle, a power
play specialist in Rob Blake, and, a rare veteran who seems like he’ll actually
make it through opening night – Jeff Friesen is back, for now. Let's not also
forget the most colorful veteran in the game - Jeremey Roenick. He has
decided to give it one more go, and why not? Still armed with firepower
with one of the most explosive top lines in the league with Jonathan Cheechoo
and Joe Thornton, and with a new head coach – could this be the year San Jose
loses the “Ottawa Senators West” label? Speaking of youth – look for former
Ottawa 67s phenom Logan Couture to get a crack at a full time roster spot,
sooner, rather than later.
3.
Anaheim
Ducks
As much
as we love to hate Brian Burke, he still has one of the most dominant teams in
the league, if they can ever stay out of the penalty box long enough. Victims
of the Stanley Cup hangover, the Ducks were determined not to make the same
mistakes this year. Both Teemu Selanne and Scott Niedermayer are signed and
ready to go. Niedermayer has been given back the “C”, Chris Pronger, Corey
Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Scott’s brother Rob still call this team home. They’ve
added Nathan McIver and Ken Klee to complement an already lethal back end.
Former Vancouver Canuck Brendan Morrison has signed on as a free agent. Most
importantly, the Ducks are free of the cancer that is Todd Bertuzzi (which is
also why the Calgary Flames are not part of this list). Don’t count out the
Ducks – even though they no longer have “mighty” in their name, they still are,
but they’ll have to stay disciplined. On paper the Ducks should be a contender.
4.
Philadelphia Flyers
They
continue
to get it done in the East the same way they’ve managed to get it done for
decades – skill, grit and scoring. It doesn’t hurt to actually have a goalie
who can actually stop the puck either. Philadelphia really impressed me last
season. Not surprisingly, they had no answer for the high flying Pittsburgh
Penguins, but lucky for them, they’ve gotten better, and the Penguins, well,
have not. They will probably miss Jason Smith on D, but they have enough up and
coming scoring talent to overcome it, and they still have Martin Biron between
the pipes. Here is another team virtually unchanged from where we last saw
them, in the Eastern Conference final. There’s talk Bryan Berard may join this
team any day now – so he should be able to at least help keep the offending
teams at bay. The time for Philly is now, and on paper, they are stacked with
Daniel Briere, Simon Gagne, Scott Hartnell, Mike Richards and Jeff Carter all
returning. New faces include Glen Metropolit and rookie defenseman Luca Sbisa –
the very reason a guy like Jason Smith was expendable in the first place. The
Flyers will be exciting to watch yet again.
5.
New York
Rangers
An obvious
choice
after starting the season 5-0 as of this writing, but can they keep it up? It’s
been said the best moves the Rangers made over the summer were the ones they
didn’t make – that means letting Sean Avery and Jaromir Jagr do what they felt
was best for them. It paid off, as it freed up money and cap room for the likes
of Markus Naslund, Wade Redden, Dmitri Kalinin, and Nikolai Zherdev. The
Rangers seem to so far have the perfect blend of experience and youth, and a
couple more players you’ll be hearing a lot about in New York are leading the
way: Aaron Voros, Brandon Dubinsky, and Daniel Girardi. Give them last year’s
free agent signings of Scott Gomez and Chris Drury and while they’re not Mark
Messier, they complement the team nicely. Of course, let’s not forget about the
flashy Petr Prucha, who came to training camp in the best shape of anybody on
the team – and it hasn’t gone unnoticed both with the players and training
staff. In net, only the most underrated goalie in the game today – Henrik
Lundqvist. He just keeps getting better and better. The New York Rangers will
be at the very least a tough opponent, but so far so good in the standings.
Honorable
Mention:
The Dallas Stars for taking a risk on an unproven Swedish Elite League superstar
(more to come); the New Jersey Devils for keeping Martin Brodeur happy and for
reassembling, as best as they could, some members from their past glory years;
and the Edmonton Oilers for continuing to have the guts to try and build a
competitive team built around speed.
THE PRETENDERS
1.
Ottawa
Senators
As much as
they
want to try and believe the disaster which was last year is behind them, along
with the baggage that went with it, this season in the early stages shows no
sign whatsoever as being any different for the boys from Canada’s Capital, the
city I call home. Exit Ray Emery, Wade Redden, Brian McGrattan. Enter Jason
Smith and, Alex Auld? Exit Brian Murray, enter Craig Hartsburg? While I like
Hartsburg as a coach and all of his accolades and accomplishments, I get the
sense this will end up a story of too little too late. OK, so they’ve only
played three games so far, two of them overseas. Here’s what I don’t like.
Jason Spezza, now skating under the instruction of his 4th NHL head
coach, is still trying the same tricks that got him benched with Jacques
Martin. Quite frankly, he was the only coach who had enough guts to stand up to
the kid and tell him, Kid, you cannot go up the middle and get past three guys
without being made to look foolish 9 times out of 10. The deke move on Sheldon
Souray aside (when Souray was in Montreal), all too often he makes plays that
cost his team a goal, or in the case of the first game, the win and ultimately
the extra point. The team said they wanted secondary scoring, but yet the
“pizza line” of Daniel Alfredsson, Dany Heatley and Spezza is still the top
line, and for all intents and purposes can’t be split up because the rest of the
team can’t score. Mike Fisher, with all of his brilliance, looks like he’s in
for another injury riddled season. I really like Jason Smith as a defenseman, I
always have – he will plug a big hole made with the departure of Wade Redden –
but Smith didn’t help Edmonton and Philadelphia to long playoff runs by
himself. Luckily Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov are still around. The
Sens still have goaltending issues, even though they choose to deny it. It
looks like another year of goalie 1A and goalie 1B – or as we’ll inevitably see
next spring – goalie 2C and goalie 2D. Martin Gerber and Alex Auld have yet to
prove themselves as playoff goaltenders. So far I have to give a slight edge to
Auld, but again, we’re barely three games into the schedule. If they awarded
championships based on regular season statistics – then the Senators should have
been champions six times over by now – the reality is regular season success
doesn’t equal playoff success. For some reason, Ottawa still doesn’t seem to
understand this, but yet they are quick to pick on Toronto? A word of advice –
clean up your own house first. The Senators should still be pretty good and
will probably make the playoffs – but then what? One name keeps flying around
the rumor mill – Nikolai Khabibulin. Another name I keep hearing – Mats
Sundin. I can’t imagine the Sens being able to fit even one of these players
under the cap, but stranger things have happened here in the past. Stay tuned,
but don’t hold your breath.
2.
Pittsburgh
Penguins
As excited as almost everyone
was to see the Penguins make their way back in the finals, don’t expect a repeat
performance this year. Clearly, Pittsburgh has taken a huge step back in the
off season. They practically mortgaged their entire future to get Marian Hossa,
and now he has flown the coup to be with the Stanley Cup Champion Detroit Red
Wings. OK, well forget practically - they did mortgage their future for Hossa,
and now have virtually nothing to show for it except for an appearance in the
finals. Ryan Malone and Gary Roberts have moved on to Tampa Bay, Georges
Laraque to Montreal. Petr Sykora and Sergei Gonchar will both miss time with
injuries. Darryl Sydor hasn’t played since last year. All of the above were
replaced by Miroslav Satan, Matt Cooke and Eric Godard? Lucky for Pittsburgh,
Marc-Andre Fleury is still here, but he has looked shaky at best in the early
going. Sidney Crosby, Jordan Staal and Evgeni Malkin will all be called upon to
carry the scoring load, but unlike last year, they only provide one or two
scoring threats to deal with – last year they had four balanced lines. In
today’s defense first game, they shouldn’t be too hard to contain. Oh yeah, and
Ty Conklin is also now with the defending champs. Ouch! Fleury better stay
healthy! If the Pens have something to rally behind, though, it’s the way they
played last season after losing key members of their team – Crosby, Fleury and
Roberts all missed time but the team never lost a beat. So far, Tyler Kennedy
has been a great story, but after him and the big 3, the depth chart is severely
lacking. Pittsburgh should make the playoffs, but I can’t see them getting back
to the finals again anytime soon. There won’t be much the team can offer this
year at the deadline as they let it all go last year.
3.
Chicago
Blackhawks
OK,
I know the Hawks still need to make the playoffs, and if this year’s roster is
any indication, they should return with a vengeance. I already mentioned Brian
Campbell, who should improve Chicago’s already good power play. The key will be
can the team stay healthy (that means you Martin Havlat!), and can they do
something about their goalie controversy. It’s no secret the Blackhawks want to
unload goalie Khabibulin in the worst way to give more playing time to free
agent Cristobal Huet, who joins his third team since last October. Up front, the
usual suspects of Havlat, Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp will
put enough pucks in the net, and the arrival of Campbell makes their already
good defense of Keith Carney, Duncan Keith, Brent Sopel and Brent Seabrook
better. Tough guy Jesse Boulerice is now on this team, even though they already
had a pretty good enforcer in Dustin Byfuglien. We need Chicago back in the
playoffs, and I think if they can get there they’ll make some noise. I still
think they aren’t experienced enough to get past the first round, but if nothing
else they will be fun to watch again. Must be time to fire the coach, eh (Best
of luck, Mr. Quenneville)? Depending on where they are at Christmas, keep an
eye on the trade trigger in the Windy City.
4.
Calgary
Flames
Why is everybody so high on
the Flames? OK, so they still have Jarome Iginla, Craig Conroy and one of the
best up and coming defensemen in the game with Dion Phaneuf (who graces the
cover of NHL 09), but aside from a few fairly mediocre acquisitions they are
still the same team who bowed out early in seven games to the San Jose Sharks
last spring. Now even I will admit, Mike Cammalleri is an amazing player in his
own right, but the Flames let Alex Tanguay get away. Both are dynamic players
and had they been able to keep Tanguay we may be writing a different journal.
Next up, the move I can’t stand – Todd Bertuzzi – mark my words, as much as
maybe we all should move on from the big incident from years ago, this guy is
too big and too clumsy to make a difference. He will be the same cancer on this
team as he was in Anaheim last season and in Detroit the season before. He’s
already proven it early on – and the referees are watching and are not fooling
around. OK, so maybe the Vancouver player embellished a little bit, but if one
player should know better about the borderline boarding plays, it should be
Bertuzzi. Quite frankly, I feel Todd will bring more harm than good to this
team – especially if this team actually makes the playoffs and are trying to
control a tight game. We saw it during the first weekend, we saw it during the
Olympics, we saw it during his time in Vancouver, Detroit, Anaheim and NY
Islanders. Of course, he still has time to prove me completely wrong, but so
far I haven’t seen it. OK, so enough about Bert for a second. What on earth
has happened to Miikka Kiprusoff? If the Flames are going to go anywhere,
Kipper has to get back to the goaltender he was during the 2004 run to the
finals, period. It’s still early, but with all of the improvements other teams
in the Northwest Division have made (or not, do you hear me Colorado?), Calgary
looks like they’ll be scrambling to keep up (as their play so far has
demonstrated) – especially once they decide to tune out Mike Keenan, if they
haven’t already done so.
5.
Washington
Capitals
I have to
admit, I was really happy to see Washington make the playoffs last year in as
dramatic fashion as they did. Even though at the time I was somewhere between
Washington and Richmond, Virginia on Interstate 95, the news came at a time when
we needed to see some exciting new blood in the post season. They almost made
it work too, as they gave Philadelphia all they could handle in one of the most
exciting seven game series in recent memory. So, as much as we all want to see
an encore, unless they manage to convince Chicago to give them back Cristobal
Huet, it’s going to be another long season in the American Capital. Not only is
Huet gone, so too is Olie the Goalie – a mainstay in goal for as long as I can
remember – he now calls Tampa Bay home. Quite frankly, with Jose Theodore
between the pipes, the Caps are in big trouble. The way they will get their
points is early and often, but if they go up against teams who know all about
Alex Ovechkin and Alex Semin, there will be more long nights than short. At
least Mike Green is back on the back end (I’ve always said the best move a team
can make is to keep its assets), and to complement A.O. and A.S. will be the
return of Michael Nylander, not to mention Chris Clark. Both missed
considerable time with various injuries. The big question will be does Sergei
Fedorov care enough to keep playing his best or will he disappear like he did so
often before. Like Chicago, at least the Capitals will keep things exciting.
Whether they can make it to the post season remains to be seen.
Honorable Mention: Colorado Avalanche, for allowing Joe Sakic to come back
for another season. It's time for a new leader in Denver, period (and Ryan
Smyth doesn't count!).
WHEN HELL FREEZES OVER…PERHAPS…
1.
Toronto
Maple Leafs
You have to
hand it to the proverbial centre of the hockey universe – they come out and
shock the defending Stanley Cup Champions on opening night and have everybody in
Toronto abuzz with a hard fought well deserved 3-2 win, then they head back home
and get embarrassed by their biggest rivals from Montreal by a count of 6-1.
Which Leafs team will we see this year? Well of course as of this writing
everyone is now saying the latter. One thing’s for sure – they somehow managed
to rid themselves of a few salaries they didn’t want to sustain for much longer
– Bryan McCabe now calls Sunrise, Florida home, Darcy Tucker is somewhere in
Denver, and Mats Sundin can’t decide, but for sure will not return to captain
what will now be a fairly young team. I really like a couple of the rookies –
forward Nikolai Kumelin should really help in the goal scoring department, and
defenseman Luke Schenn will get a good look, but will he stay? So far so good.
It’s looking like the goaltender job will be Vesa Toskala’s to lose – Curtis
Joseph is back, but was absolutely brutal in the aforementioned 6-1 drubbing.
It’s just too bad the team’s management doesn’t know when to keep their mouth
shut. Before the puck had even dropped they were publicly stating the team
doesn’t have enough talent. While this may be true, equate this to the upper
management of whatever organization you work for having nothing but negative
things to say about their most important assets – their employees. At this
point, the Leafs will have to suck it up and take it one game at a time. New
coach Ron Wilson has a great system if the team players are willing to buy into
it. Most are saying it won’t matter, but if they have more games like opening
night than not, they will be the toast of the Northeast division, much to the
chagrin of the Habs and Sens.
2.
Columbus
Blue Jackets
Still the
lone
remaining expansion team to not make the playoffs, it’s not looking like the
Jackets will be getting any closer to making it to the big dance. Quick, name
one player on this team besides Rick Nash?! Wrong, Zherdev is now in New York.
I’m unsure where to place the blame for the team’s futility – once upon a time
it seemed like just a matter of time before the Jackets started qualifying for
the postseason. Doug Maclean was supposed to be the general manager who would
build a winner. Ken Hitchcock was supposed to be the best coach for the job.
Yet still here we are, without even a sniff of the playoffs. I know it’s very
early but it’s not looking like they are going anywhere fast. Mike Peca, who is
supposed to be a leader on this team (bet you didn’t know he was on the roster)
seems more preoccupied with abusing officials, although he is appealing the
automatic 10 game suspension, saying the referee over reacted. We’ll see. For
a period of time it looked like goalie Pascal Leclaire was going to lead this
team to a playoff berth. It didn’t happen. After getting Adam Foote to play a
partial season here, he seemed more intent on finishing his illustrious career
in Colorado (who aren’t faring much better of late). It should be very
interesting to see what happens in Columbus in the coming weeks, especially if
they don’t start putting wins on the board. Will Hitchcock be the second NHL
coach to be fired this season? Stay tuned, but regardless of what happens,
don’t expect miracles out of Ohio.
3.
Los Angeles
Kings
So far,
so good for the Kings, especially after losing Mike Cammalleri to Calgary, but
are they really that good or are the teams they’ve played so far just not found
their groove yet? They played Anaheim to a 6-3 win? It just doesn’t seem right
to me. Nor does it seem right to have a team with a 1-2 record to be on the
verge of a playoff spot. While it doesn’t seem like anybody in the Pacific is
going to touch San Jose, don’t expect the early streak to continue for Los
Angeles. Eventually the loss of Rob Blake and Lubomir Visnovsky is going to
cost this team some close games. Jason LaBarbera, as good as he is, can’t stop
them all. Jarret Stoll should help them in the face off department, but they
already had some pretty good face off guys in Michal Handzus and Patrick
O’Sullivan. Tom Preissing and Alexander Frolov are still here, and another new
addition, Kyle Calder, will help in the scoring department. Matt Greene is a
solid defenseman, but gets into penalty trouble too much. The future is bright
for this team with a nucleus made up of Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, and the
exciting young star Anze Kopitar, who has just signed a long term contract. In
case you missed it, Kyle Quincey was just claimed off waivers from Detroit. The
Kings will be fun to watch, but even if they make the playoffs, I’d be very
surprised if they get past the first round.
4.
Tampa Bay
Lightning
It’s hard
to
say how long the Barry Melrose experiment will work in Tampa, and even how much
longer management and fans will wait for all the new faces to form some
chemistry with the big 3 of Vincent Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis and Vinny
Prospal. Steven Stamkos, the 1st round draft pick, should get to see
a lot of playing time, but as an 18 year old he is still learning the ropes.
Nice moves bringing in well known forwards Gary Roberts, Mark Recchi, Ryan
Malone, Jussi Jokinen and goalies Mike Smith and Olaf Kolzig. One would think
with all the offense they have they’d have a better record, but it’s still very
early. The biggest question mark is on defense. You can’t replace a guy like
Dan Boyle very easily, and especially not with Andrej Meszaros and Matt Carle
combined. Once this team explodes, look out. I just don’t think it will be in
time to salvage a playoff spot, especially in the always tight Southeast
division.
5.
NY Islanders
As
well as their Rangers
counterparts are doing out of the gate, so far it’s been nothing short of a
disaster on Long Island. For starters, their big money goaltender Rick DiPietro
has sat and watched as newcomer Joey MacDonald has seen all the playing time.
DiPietro is day to day nursing a knee injury. The news went from bad to worse,
as one of their best stay at home defensemen, Radek Martinek, will miss close to
2 months, and yet another defenseman, Brendan Witt, is day to day after hitting
his head on the ice. Not a good start in the man games lost department. Add to
this a 7-1 embarrassment at the hands of Buffalo, and the good news is their
next game is against Tampa Bay. I’m really not sure, though, what this team has
to offer outside of Doug Weight, Mike Comrie and Mike Sillinger. It’s probably
a good thing Trent Hunter is still around. Mark Streit will probably help on
defense, but will it be enough. As they say in the Bronx – fuggedaboudit!!
Honorable Mention: Anaheim Ducks? Wait a minute! How can the
Ducks be a contender and pretender all at the same time!? 0-4 with no
indication of improvement...never mind, it's still way early, and by now I've
lost all of my credibility – moving along!!!
ALONG THE
BOARDS
A
couple of quick notes
this time around.
It
seems everybody has an opinion on the opening night disaster which was the
NHL Rocks segment where Def Leppard’s Joe Elliott placed the Stanley Cup upside
down. Some, including Red Wings defensemen Chris Chelios, feel it was done on
purpose. Elliott, who many will argue his best years are long behind him,
retorted to his mistake with his quip “well we’re soccer boys, what do we
know?!”. OK, fine and dandy, I’m willing to accept the notion that perhaps Def
Leppard is from England and doesn’t follow hockey. What I don’t understand,
however, is if you’re booked for a gig promoting Hockey, would nobody, including
even the band’s publicist, not have the presence of mind to at the very least go
to nhl.com and check out what the Cup looks like? Ignorance is bliss, I guess.
As for whether it was done on purpose, who knows? What I do know is this: Def
Leppard have played more hockey arenas than the average NHL player will get to a
see their entire career! Surely at some point they’ve seen pictures of the
cup? Maybe I’m getting old, but I hold the opinion the entire thing was in jest
– I mean come on – Darren McCarty is a huge fan of the band and I’m sure must
have somehow orchestrated the whole thing – want to blame somebody, blame
McCarty! It’s interesting to note, sophomore Kyle Quincey was the player who
actually turned the Cup right side up – and subsequently was placed on waivers
and claimed by Los Angeles the very next day. Coincidence?
And on a sad note, we say
goodbye and
good luck to, none other than who was a promising young player in Alexei
Cherepanov, who passed away suddenly after collapsing during a game in the new
Kontinental Hockey League. Cherepanov was playing for Avangard Omsk, a team he
still had a contract with for this season, and a future New York Rangers
prospect. Reports are conflicting at best, but it’s been suggested he died of a
heart attack simply because he should never have been on the ice in the first
place due to a heart condition. As far as I know this is the first we’re
hearing of this, and an investigation by the KHL is forthcoming. What’s scary
is this – while reports are sketchy at best, it’s believed the ambulance left
the arena with less than 2 minutes left in the game, and conveniently enough,
Alexei collapsed on the bench shortly thereafter. When they did finally arrive
back at the building it was apparently a good 20 minutes to a half hour, and the
scariest part of all – the defibrillator didn’t work properly, either due to
lack of battery power, or because it was malfunctioning. It all sounds fishy to
me, but at some point the truth will come out. It’s a shame, really, because at
the end of the day we’ve lost a great future talent and he will be greatly
missed. R.I.P. Alexei.
By
the way - nice touch by the Vancouver Canucks with their Luc Bourdon montage
during their home opener. Here's hoping we don't lose anymore great young
talent anytime soon!
WHO IS THIS GUY?
As
promised,
every column for this season and beyond, we’ll explore an exciting young player
or someone we haven’t heard from in awhile who we may have forgotten about.
This time around, it’s none other than the young man, or shall we say late
bloomer, known as the Internet legend: Fabian Brunnstrom.
The Hockey
News
has called him the next Daniel Alfredsson (although Alfredsson was drafted, just
in the later rounds). Hailing from Jonstorp, Hoganas, Sweden, Brunnstrom, 23,
has made his mark in every top tier Swedish elite league there is. With
Farjestads BK last season he amassed 37 points in 54 games. He quickly became
known as the “Internet Legend” during the playoffs last season when as many as
five NHL teams were interested in his services, yet nobody knew who he was.
Undrafted, the Dallas Stars signed him as an unrestricted free agent. Toronto,
Vancouver, Detroit, and even Ottawa were rumored to have been interested. Dave
Nonis evidently was closest to landing the Swedish superstar, but ended up
getting canned as G.M. of the Canucks before Dallas eventually won the bidding
war. So with all of this buzz surrounding the prolific scorer who no average
Joe in North America had ever seen play before this week, Hockey websites
(including mine) were searched for any information or video clips.
Unfortunately, I had nothing to offer, but I appreciate the e-mails!
Why do we
care?
Fabian played his first game for the Dallas Stars, and scored not just his first
NHL goal, but a hat trick (in fact, almost made it four, but the last goal was
disallowed due to a goaltender interference penalty). While it’s not expected
he’ll score a hat trick every game, he certainly has started his NHL career with
a bang, playing on a line with Brad Richards, and Sean Avery? Did I mention the
Stars are a scary team this season?
Maybe by the time the
standings shape up, I’ll be completely wrong, but this is how I see it. I won’t
sugar coat it, deep down, if you’ve been reading my column long enough, you all
know who I’m rooting for anyway – if you don’t know by now, you haven’t been
paying attention (hint: they’re 2-0 as of this writing). So, go forth and watch
as many games as you can, and stay tuned to this spot for more.
Enjoy the
season!
More Puckin' Around...
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